Road trips with kids -A blog post

From the Edit desk

‘Vacation’. The word itself brings a smile to many of us. While it differs hugely on the kind of holiday one takes and is able to spare the time, effort and finances for the holiday, there are certain options that you can consider while going on a trip with kids.

(Picturesque scenes are a common sight especially if one travels by road through the country side).

Having been on a vacation more than once by road, we at Mums and stories feel it is very important to consider the stay and mode of transport according to your comfort, if possible.

(Photograph by Mums and Stories on Road trips)

Here are a few pointers you can consider when planning a road trip with children.

Agreed, you have the space in your car but do watch out on how much luggage you will carry. Pack them neatly and let there be enough space for you and the child or children to sit.
Never go on road trips with the car being packed completely with more than required people. It is fun to go with more families on certain trips, but then if possible book a bigger car or rent a car which can accommodate more people easily. Do remember kids will not like to sit in one space in the car for a long time. They need to move around or shift spaces.

(Road trips give enough opportunity to take photographs, videos and capture the essence at pace. However we do suggest that at some places, do soak in the experience without the gadgets. A few things and scenes become memorable only with its experience not by capturing through gadgets. Video by Mums & Stories from a road trip in Tamil Nadu, India).

Considering the ages of the children do take books, toys, a few of them at least. It is easy to give in to mobiles during journeys for kids to play but that would be the last option only if there is no other alternative. Do try and work around new and forgotten games like antakshari, simple games that kids play like taking turns to spell name place, animal, or playing spotting different theme based objects from your car window.
Toddlers can be given board books, blocks while the older ones can take story books they like and toys in a toy bag that can be played in parks, hotel rooms where one is staying.

(Photograph by Mums and Stories)

The first trip a mum or the family plans with the child, can be definitely a road trip as one has the flexibility of time and can carry essentials like a stroller, space for baby bag in the car, support accessories like a small induction stove to heat milk or to make simple meals in the room for the baby.
As the kids grow up, road trips become even more manageable and fun too with kids exploring new roads, new destinations with you. Do take an experienced driver or if you or your partner is driving –do drive responsibly.
When travelling with kids, try and avoid travelling in the nights as they need the time to relax and move around in a destination in a comfortable space. Night driving even otherwise unless an emergency is not really recommended.

(The best part of road trips is discovering new spaces and sights that are not on the tourist guide’s list. A few that become and make the trip completely worthy. Photograph of the serene lake by Mums and Stories).

Road trips become memorable as one can stop over for meals at quaint spaces, ones that are not necessarily listed on travel websites but are good and there is a lot of room to experiment with food when you have the mode of transport accessible with you all along.
Do not make road trips with extreme long journeys in terms of duration in one go. This is not only tiring for the individual in the driver’s seat, be it you or the dad of the family but it can really annoying for toddlers and kids of any age group. So take into age consideration while planning a road trip. Some kids are quite accomodating and some aren’t. A few get motion sickness so keep in mind these factors. A good road trip on one way journey should not ideally stretch more than six hours.

(A few essential scenes that do get captured on a green cover -road journey).

A major point you can consider is to leave early like by 6am so that kids are asleep in the car and you can take a break to have breakfast. Also do take frequent breaks like two breaks at least in a five hour road journey.
Lastly do not make your road trips too crammed with too many schedules packed in. This is of utmost importance if more than one family is travelling together. Then do consider how each family wants to score off the tourist spots in the destination and are the other family or yours willing to skip a few tourist spots in case your kid or kids are not feeling up to the mark.
Lastly enjoy your holiday and if you have some tips on road trips with kids, do share with us.